Mobile terminal for changing position of display unit in horizontal or vertical direction

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses a mobile terminal including a first casing having a key input unit with a plurality of keys; a second casing having a display unit for displaying characters and images; a connecting member having its one end hinge-connected to the first casing to overlap with the first casing, and its other end connected to contact one area of the second casing; a rotating means provided between one area of the second casing and the other end of the connecting member, for rotating the second casing along a contact surface to the connecting member within a predetermined angle; and a signal processing device for converting an image displayed on the display unit, when the second casing is rotated by the rotating means. The mobile terminal can mechanically change the position of the display unit in the horizontal or vertical direction to vary the magnitude of the image displayed on the display unit, so that the user can watch movies, motion pictures and contents through a larger screen.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mobile terminal, and in particular toa mobile terminal which can convert a width and height of an imagedisplayed on a display unit by changing a horizontal or verticalposition of the display unit.

2. Description of the Background Art

Recently, a number of people using a mobile terminal has been increaseddue to development of the communication industry. Almost everyone cancommunicate with the other party during the movement.

Moreover, the mobile terminal provides a calculator function, anelectric organizer function and a calendar function. Since the mobileterminal is accessible to an internet, the user can conveniently receivea variety of information during the movement. In addition, the mobileterminal can store motion picture files such as the MPEG4, and thus theuser can watch a movie or animation anywhere through the mobileterminal.

In the conventional mobile terminal, a dimension of an image displayedon a display unit is determined according to a ratio of a verticalsignal to horizontal signal scanned to the display unit. Although awidth (horizontal) of the display unit of the mobile terminal is smallerthan a height (vertical) thereof, a width (horizontal) of a screen fordisplaying a movie or the like is larger than a height (vertical)thereof. Therefore, the user fails to watch the image through the wholedisplay unit. That is, the user can watch the contents such as motionpictures through part of the display unit not at a screen ratio of themovie.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide amobile terminal which can enable the user to easily watch the contentssuch as motion pictures by changing a position of a display unit in ahorizontal/vertical direction and converting a dimension of an imagedisplayed on the display unit according to a mechanical movement of thedisplay unit.

In order to achieve the above-described object of the invention, thereis provided a mobile terminal including: a first casing having a keyinput unit with a plurality of keys; a second casing having a displayunit for displaying characters and images; a connecting member havingits one end hinge-connected to the first casing to overlap with thefirst casing, and its other end connected to contact one area of thesecond casing; a rotating means provided between one area of the secondcasing and the other end of the connecting member, for rotating thesecond casing along a contact surface to the connecting member within apredetermined angle; and a signal processing device for converting aratio of width to height of an image displayed on the display unit, whenthe second casing is rotated by the rotating means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become better understood with reference tothe accompanying drawings which are given only by way of illustrationand thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are rear perspective views respectively illustrating amobile terminal in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side-sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an operation state view illustrating the mobile terminal inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a display unit in imageconversion in accordance with the present invention; and

FIGS. 6 a and 6 b are a display state view illustrating the display unitin the image conversion in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A mobile terminal in accordance with a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention will now be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are rear perspective views respectively illustrating themobile terminal in accordance with the present invention, and FIG. 3 isa side-sectional view taken along line III-III FIG. 1. For conveniencesake, FIG. 3 exaggerates a rotating means 40 for connecting the otherend of a connecting member 30 and a second casing 20.

The mechanical mechanism for rotating a display unit of the mobileterminal in accordance with the present invention will now be describedin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The mobile terminal includes a first casing 10 having a power battery 11and a key input unit 13, a second casing 20 having a display unit 21,and a connecting member 30 provided between the first casing 10 and thesecond casing 20, for connecting the first casing 10 to the secondcasing 20. One end 31 of the connecting member 30 is hinge-connected tothe first casing 10 to overlap with the first casing 10, and the otherend 33 is connected to one area of the second casing 20 so that thesecond casing 20 can be rotated within a predetermined angle.

A rotating means 40 for rotating the second casing 20 is composed of abearing hole 41 formed at the other end of the connecting member 30, arotation shaft hole 43 formed at the second casing 20 to correspond tothe bearing hole 41, and a rotation shaft member 45 installed to connectthe bearing hole 41 to the rotation shaft hole 43, for rotating thesecond casing 20.

The rotation shaft member 45 includes a cylindrical rotation shaft unit47 having a predetermined length to connect the bearing hole 41 to therotation shaft hole 43, a hook unit 49 formed along the circumferencedirection of one end of the rotation shaft unit 47 and connected to thesecond chasing 20, and a cover unit 51 extended from the other end ofthe rotation shaft unit 47 in the radius direction of the rotation shaftunit 47.

Here, a connection line passing hole 53 is formed at the cylindricalarea of the rotation shaft unit 47 so that a connection line 59 forelectrically connecting the first casing 10 to the second casing 20 canpass therethrough. The cover unit 51 covers the cylindrical area of therotation shaft unit 47 to intercept external foreign substances, andalso improves appearance.

In addition, the rotating means 40 further includes a position limitingmeans provided between the rotation shaft member 45 and the secondcasing 20, for limiting a rotation position of the second casing 20. Theposition limiting means has a limiting protrusion 55 protruded from thecover unit 51 of the rotation shaft member 45 toward the outer surfaceof the second casing 20, for limiting the rotation position of thesecond casing 20, and a position limiting jaw 57 protruded from thesecond casing 20 for contacting the limiting protrusion 55. The limitingprotrusion 55 and the position limiting jaw 57 are alternately formed atintervals of 90° for preventing the second casing 20 from deviating fromthe horizontal or vertical position due to an excessive rotation force.Since the position limiting means is installed to limit the rotationposition and direction of the second casing 20, the connection line 59for connecting the first casing 10 to the second casing 20 is nottwisted.

FIG. 4 is an operation state view illustrating the mobile terminal inaccordance with the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, when thesecond casing 20 is rotated in the clockwise direction (arrow direction)due to a predetermined force, the display unit 21 of the second casing20 is rotated at 90° to be positioned in the horizontal direction.Conversely, when the second casing 20 is rotated in the anticlockwisedirection due to a predetermined force, the display unit 21 of thesecond casing 20 is rotated at 90° to be positioned in the verticaldirection. That is, the display unit 21 is rotated at 90° to bepositioned in the horizontal or vertical direction by the positionlimiting means, the limiting protrusion 55 and the position limiting jaw57.

In the above-described embodiment, the limiting protrusion 55 and theposition limiting jaw 57 limit the rotation position and direction ofthe second casing 20, but various limiting means such as an elasticpressure rotating button for rotating the second casing 20 merely when apredetermined force is applied between the second casing 20 and theconnecting member 30 can limit the rotation position of the secondcasing 20.

In addition, when an electrical motor is mounted on the rotating means40, and a special button for controlling the operation of the electricalmotor is set up or a special function is provided to the existing buttonof a cellular phone by programming, the display unit can beautomatically rotated by operating special keys.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the electronic mechanism forconverting a ratio of width to height of the image displayed on thedisplay unit in accordance with the present invention.

The mobile terminal includes a horizontal/vertical sensing unit 107 forsensing a rotation direction of the display unit, a directioninformation storing means 101 for storing a sensing result of thehorizontal/vertical sensing unit 107, a signal processing device 100 forconverting a horizontal/vertical ratio of the image displayed on thedisplay unit, a key input unit 103 for receiving an external operationsignal, and a display control unit 105 for receiving the image data andcontrol signal from the signal processing device 100, and displaying theimage on the display unit.

The mobile terminal further includes a codec 109 for transforming a datato externally provide an audio signal according to the image displayedon the display unit 21, a D/A converter 111 for converting an analogsignal into a digital signal, and a speaker unit 113 for providing theconverted signal in form of an audible signal.

Here, the horizontal/vertical sensing unit 107 includes a rotationsensor for sensing the rotation direction of the second casing 20 duringthe rotation, and outputting a sensed value according to the rotationposition of the second casing 20.

In addition, the signal processing device 100 includes a control unit121 for controlling gearing of each component according to an operationprogram, an application program module 122 for controlling a screenactually displayed on the display unit, a video signal generating unit123 for generating a converted image by converting a ratio of width toheight of the image displayed on the display unit, and a signal outputunit 124 for generating a synchronous signal for normally displaying theconverted image on the display unit, and outputting the synchronoussignal and data information on the image whose horizontal/vertical ratiois converted to the display control unit 105.

The operation of the mobile terminal in accordance with the presentinvention will now be explained. As illustrated in FIG. 4, when thesecond casing 20 receives a predetermined force in the clockwisedirection, the second casing 20 is rotated along the rotation shaft unit47. Therefore, the display unit 21 is rotated from the vertical positionto the horizontal position. As described above, the rotating operationis automatically performed by using the electrical motor.

When the display unit 21 is rotated, the horizontal/vertical sensingunit 107 senses the rotation of the display unit 21, inputs a resultingvalue to the signal processing device 100, and stores it in thedirection information storing means 101.

The signal processing device 100 confirms rotation of the display unit21, and adjusts horizontal/vertical resolution of the image of theapplication program displayed on the display unit 21. In detail, thecontrol unit 21 reads the display image from the application programmodule 122, and the video signal generating unit 123 adjusts a ratio ofthe horizontal/vertical resolution of the image.

The image displayable area of the display unit according to thehorizontal and vertical positions of the display unit will now bedescribed with reference to FIG. 6. As shown in FIG. 6, the display unit21 have M cells in the horizontal direction and N cells in the verticaldirection. FIG. 6(a) is a state view illustrating the image areadisplayed on the display unit 21 when the display unit 21 of the secondcasing 20 is rotated in the vertical direction along the rotating means40. When the display unit.21 is put in the horizontal position, Mhorizontal cells and N vertical cells can display the image. As aresult, the user can watch movies, motion pictures and contents in arelatively large screen.

Here, when it is presumed that M horizontal cells and N vertical cellsare formed at a ratio of 234 to 160, a dimension of the imagedisplayable area of the display unit 21 when the display unit 21 isrotated in the vertical direction can be calculated. As depicted in FIG.6(b), when the display unit 21 is put in the vertical position, Nvertical cells are converted to the horizontal position, and Mhorizontal cells are converted into the vertical position. Here, when aratio of N horizontal cells is 234 and a ratio of displayable verticalimages is 160, a number of the image displayable cells is calculatedamong M vertical cells (for example, when 234:160 is equal to N:x,vertical cells are 160N/234). In the case that the horizontal/verticalratio according to the image area is set up differently, the magnitudeof the image area displayed on the display unit can be changed.

The image information converted horizontally or vertically in the videosignal generating unit 123 is inputted to the display control unit 105through the signal output unit 124. When the signal output unit 124outputs the image information, it simultaneously provides horizontal andvertical synchronous signals to the display control unit 105, therebycompletely displaying the image on the display unit at a convertedratio.

In the above-described embodiment, when the display unit is positionedin the horizontal or vertical direction, the user can watch the movies,motion pictures and contents. However, when the display unit ispositioned in the horizontal direction, the user can watch the movies,motion pictures and contents and when the display unit is positioned inthe vertical direction, the user can use the mobile terminal.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, itshould also be understood that the above-described embodiment is notlimited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unlessotherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within itsspirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore allchanges and modifications that fall within the metes and bounds of theclaims, or equivalences of such metes and bounds are therefore intendedto be embraced by the appended claims.

As discussed earlier, the mobile terminal in accordance with the presentinvention can mechanically change the position of the display unit tovary the magnitude of the image displayed on the display unit, so thatthe user can watch the movies, motion pictures and contents through alarger screen.

This application claims priority to Korean Application No. KR2001-35834, filed Jun. 22, 2001, the entire disclosure of which ishereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

1. A mobile terminal comprising: a first casing having a key input unitwith a plurality of keys; a second casing having a display unit fordisplaying characters and images; a connecting member having its one endhinge-connected to the first casing to overlap with the first casing,and its other end connected to contact one area of the second casing; arotating means provided between one area of the second casing and theother end of the connecting member, for rotating the second casing alonga contact surface to the connecting member within a predetermined angle;and a signal processing device for selectively converting horizontal andvertical resolution of an image displayed on the display unit, when thesecond casing is rotated by the rotating means.
 2. The mobile terminalaccording to claim 1, wherein the rotating means comprises: a bearinghole passing through a plate surface of the other end of the connectingmember; a rotation shaft hole formed at the second casing to correspondto the bearing hole; and a rotation shaft member inserted into thebearing hole and the rotation shaft hole, for rotating the second casingalong the contact surface to the connection member; and a positionlimiting means provided between the rotation shaft member and the outersurface of the second casing, for limiting a rotation position of thesecond casing.
 3. The mobile terminal according to claim 2, wherein therotation shaft member comprises: a rotation shaft unit formed in acylindrical shape; a hook unit formed at one end of the rotation shaftunit, for preventing the rotation shaft unit from being deviated fromthe second casing; and a cover unit extended from the other end of therotation shaft unit in the radius direction of the rotation shaft unit.4. The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein the positionlimiting means are a limiting protrusion protruded from the cover unittoward the second casing, and a position limiting jaw protruded from theplate surface of the second casing toward the cover unit for contactingthe limiting protrusion and limiting the rotation of the second casing.5. The mobile terminal according to claim 3, wherein a connection linepassing hole is formed at the side of the rotation shaft unit, forreceiving connection lines for electrically connecting the first casingto the second casing.
 6. The mobile terminal according to claim 1,further comprising a display control unit for receiving the convertedimage from the signal processing device, and displaying the image on thedisplay unit.
 7. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, furthercomprising a horizontal/vertical sensing unit for sensing a rotationdirection of the second casing during the rotation, and outputting aresulting value.
 8. The mobile terminal according to claim 1, whereinthe signal processing device comprises: an application program modulefor providing an image to be displayed on the display unit; a videosignal generating unit for receiving the image which will be inputted tothe display unit from the application program module according to therotation of the second casing, and converting the horizontal andvertical resolution; and a signal output unit for outputting the imagedata converted in the video signal generating unit with a synchronoussignal.
 9. The mobile terminal according to claim 8, further comprisinga horizontal/vertical sensing unit for sensing a rotation direction ofthe second casing during the rotation, and outputting a resulting value.10. The mobile terminal according to claim 9, further comprising adirection information storing means for storing a sensing result of thehorizontal/vertical sensing unit.
 11. The mobile terminal according toclaim 10, wherein the signal processing device often checks the rotationstate of the display unit stored in the direction information storingmeans, and provides an appropriate image.